Politics

Governors offer bipartisan disdain for D.C. dysfunction

After a year of Washington politics defined
more by gridlock than by progress, the nation's governors arrived in D.C. this
weekend for their annual conference with a timely message for the federal
government: Get it together.

In a news conference Saturday to kick off the
annual gathering of the National Governors Association (NGA), a bipartisan
group of state executives touted their record of cooperative problem-solving,
contrasting that leadership with the dysfunction gripping the nation's capital.

"We don't have the luxury of inaction as
we see many times here in Washington, D.C.," NGA Chairman Gov. Mary
Fallin, R-Okla., said. "Governors are expected to solve problems."

"While Washington remains in
gridlock," she added, "we find that our governors are doing their
part to work together, in collaboration, to share best practices on how we can
grow our economy."

Several governors scolded Washington for its
seemingly endless fiscal warfare, saying the fiscal cliff crisis, the
government shutdown and the fights over the debt limit dealt needless blows to
the economy.

"The fiscal cliff and the
government shutdown were not good outcomes," said Gov. Gary Herbert,
R-Utah.

Gov. Mike Beebe, D-Ark., said the shutdown and other
"draconian action[s]" weren't "particularly well thought
out."

Beebe also said the idea that both parties in Washington
can't come together on budget policy is "bunk," pointing to the late
1990s, when then-President Clinton negotiated a balanced budget with a
Republican Congress.

Several governors emphasized the importance of what they
called "flexible federalism," arguing that their jobs would be a lot
easier if the federal government provided them with greater freedom of
movement.

Greater flexibility, Fallin said, would encourage policy
innovation and experimentation that could eventually deliver better results for
less money.

Fallin also warned D.C. not to balance the budget on the
back of state governments, saying that deficit reduction "should not be
accomplished by shifting those costs down to the states."